SHEILA A. MATHEWS :::
During the month when many think pink, J.D. Eller, his daughter, Turtle, along with a myriad of frightful volunteers have embraced the macabre at the Trail of Tormented Souls, a haunted house with a purpose — to fund research and support those diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer.
Now in its second year, the Trail of Tormented Souls grew from love and loss.
“I had a good friend, Lisa, who was diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer four years ago. My daughter, Turtle, became very close friends with her. I do this to help my daughter,” said J.D. Eller. “Lisa really educated me about what it’s like to live with cancer, especially Stage IV cancer.”
Through his friend’s experience, J.D. and Turtle learned about METAvivor, an organization that specifically support those living in the most advanced stages of breast cancer.
“Metavivor is trying to multitask — they assist people diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer with the cost of their prescriptions and also help find a cure,” Turtle said.
The Trail of Tormented Souls is the Ellers’ way of honoring Lisa.
“This is our second year. Last year we did it as a last minute addition to a wrestling event that I was helping some friends with. We had six days to plan it and had 450 people turn out. We had to turn away around 200 people because we weren’t prepared for that kind of crowd,” J.D. said of the 2022 event that raised $4,000.
This year, they are well prepared.
“We have so many volunteers and donors now. We told them about our plan months ago, and they not only contributed funds, they contributed goods that we needed,” he said. “We’ll have a bathroom there this year. Little things that you might not anticipate can be really expensive. We have the whole community help out with this now.”
“The support is proving to me that people want to help with breast cancer,” Turtle said.
The Trail of Tormented Souls is unique in that it does not borrow from familiar recurring themes.
“The thing we’re most proud about is that we don’t have anything mainstream horror. You won’t find Freddy Krueger or Jason here,” J.D. said.
Tickets are $12 for ages 10 and up and $5 for kids under 10.
“Buying pink crap will not save anybody. We already have enough breast cancer awareness. Now we need a cure,” Turtle said.
Come out tonight — if you think you are brave enough — to the Trail of Tormented Souls beginning at 7 p.m. at 885 High Falls Park Road, Barnesville.
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